Ferrari accused of insulting Chinese culture; Company apologizes

The last thing any automaker wants to do at this point in time is insult the fastest growing automotive market in the world, but this is exactly what Ferrari has achieved when it took its 458 Italia China Edition for a little joyride in China.

You see, China is now a local distributor for the Italian firm, so Ferrari paid $12,000 for permission to drive the 458 Italia China Edition on the Zhonghua Gate Tower in Nanjing, a 600-year-old historical site.
This would have been acceptable, except for the fact that a dealer employee - not a Ferrari official - was caught doing ’doughnuts’ and wheel spinning on the ramparts during the night.
And it was filmed.

China takes its culture and tradition very seriously, so these acts were entirely unacceptable on such a monument.
Ferrari was quick to apologize for this daring and disrespectful act, and the culprit was disciplined by the dealership.
Ferrari even took it a step further by promising to work with authorities and local officials to repair any damage.

"Ferrari is fully at the disposal of the local authority to solve the situation. At the same time Ferrari has asked the dealer to take immediate action with the employee who had such regrettable behavior," said the company.